Paper short abstract:

This paper reconsiders history teaching to university students in Ethiopia in the context of debates on 'national identity' formation. Relating it to the 'decolonisation' debates, I do this via a brief evaluation of the latest 'Hist 102 Module' (2020), to be taught in Ethiopia's universities.

Paper long abstract:

Ethiopia's historical identity as a nation and a polity (a political community) is under scrutiny, notably since the EPRDF ethno-federalist regime (1991-2018), which actively discouraged an encompassing national narrative in favour of an ethnicized one. This has had its reflections not only in public debate and policy, but also in the academic teaching of history in high schools and in higher education. On the basis of a discussion of some recent products of this process of rethinking Ethiopian history teaching (mainly the Module Hist 102, 'History of Ethiopia and the Horn', of January 2020), I in this paper discuss some of the main positions in the current debate, and relate it to the 'decolonization' discussion. The question is posed whether a 'common', minimally shared history of Ethiopia - as a nation and a political entity (polity) - is now seen as illusory by most interlocutors, or still a shared aim - and if so, how it might be scientifically defended and taught as part of the curriculum. The discussion can be related to the theme of the 'Africa Knows' conference regarding manifold calls for 'decolonizing knowledge'. As in the debates in Western academia and elsewhere, the alternative versions of history (writing) from the standpoint of indigenous or minority groups in Ethiopia have to be encouraged when they aim towards equality and inclusiveness of representation, but may be problematic when they 'subjectivize' knowledge or become parochial and skewed - which would lead to reductionist, partial histories that make any national history outline remote and ignore its lines of connection.

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